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Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 Max Flight Makes Emergency Landing (While Carrying No Passengers)

posted by martyb on Wednesday March 27 2019, @03:43AM   
from the do-the-crew-get-hazard-pay? dept.

takyon writes:

Southwest Boeing 737 Max makes emergency landing in Orlando; FAA cites engine issue unrelated to recent crashes

The crew of a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 Max declared an emergency shortly after takeoff and returned to Orlando's main airport on Tuesday after reporting an engine problem, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

The FAA grounded this type of aircraft earlier this month following two fatal crashes of the popular model.

Airlines aren't allowed to fly passengers under the FAA's order. The Southwest plane, which was not carrying passengers, was bound for Victorville, Calif., where the carrier is storing the aircraft in a facility in the western Mojave Desert.

[...] The FAA said it is investigating the Southwest incident on Tuesday and that the issue was not related to other concerns about the 737 Max that led the agency to ground the plane.

Also at CNN.

See also: Boeing is handling the 737 Max crisis all wrong

Previously: Second 737 MAX8 Airplane Crash Reinforces Speculation on Flying System Problems
Boeing 737 Max Aircraft Grounded in the U.S. and Dozens of Other Countries
DoJ Issues Subpoenas in 737 Max Investigation
Pilot Who Hitched a Ride Saved Lion Air 737 Day Before Deadly Crash
Airline Cancels $4.9 Billion Boeing 737 MAX Order; Doomed Planes Lacked Optional Safety Features

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Original Submission

• Re:Not MCAS related, but MAX still a debacle (Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday March 27 2019, @06:43PM

  by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Wednesday March 27 2019, @06:43PM (#820850) Journal

  https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/26/18282598/nasa-mike-pence-vice-president-space-policy-lunar-landings-2024-gateway-sls-orion [theverge.com]

  Pence, speaking at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, noted that the administration will meet this goal “by any means necessary.” He called on NASA to adopt new policies and argued that the space agency would need to embrace “a new mindset that begins with setting bold goals and staying on schedule.” To do that, he said the administration may consider ditching some of NASA’s current contractors — which are currently developing new vehicles to take humans into deep space — and using commercially developed rockets instead. “If commercial rockets are the only way to get American astronauts to the Moon in the next five years, then commercial rockets it will be,” said Pence. “Urgency must be our watch word.”

  However, Pence offered few clear recommendations and changes that would help to accelerate NASA’s return, apart from potentially switching rockets and contractors. “It was rhetoric about ‘by all means possible’ and ‘we’ll provide the resources necessary’ and ‘leadership is essential,’” John Logsdon, a space policy expert at George Washington University, tells The Verge. “I mean, they’re all good words. But the devil’s in the details.”

  The Pence speech potentially ties into the previous story: White House Budget Request Would Move Launches from SLS to Commercial Providers [soylentnews.org]

  But the SLS is propped up by Congress and is still central to the Moon plans:

  “I am confident we can get to that first launch in 2020 for SLS and actually fly the crew capsule around the Moon,” Bridenstine said, though he did not elaborate on what has changed that would prevent the delay to 2021. Boeing later clarified to The Verge that it plans to deliver the core of the SLS rocket this year, and that it’s been able to accelerate development by coming up with a new plan that will allow the company to work on different sections at the same time, while piecing parts of the rocket together.

  “Boeing and NASA have implemented changes in both processes and technologies to accelerate production, without sacrificing safety or quality, and we remain on schedule to deliver the first SLS core stage to NASA by the end of this year,” Boeing said in a statement. However, Boeing did note that it was struggling with flat budgets.

  Struggling with flat budgets, they say. It would be nice to see orbital BFR tests this year so that these articles are forced to mention it and not just Falcon Heavy. Under the current plans [wikipedia.org], Yusaku Maezawa and artists would fly around the Moon in 2023, sooner than any 2024 activity and probably sooner than an Orion crew launch (scheduled for 2022, expected to slip).

  Proposed to launch in 2023, the circumlunar mission is expected to take 6 days to complete. In 1970 Apollo 13 followed a similar trajectory around the Moon, without entering orbit or landing. During the 2020s NASA's Exploration Mission 1 and Exploration Mission 2 are proposed to launch on similar trajectories; the second one is planned to be crewed and to be launched in 2022.

  It's like the orbital profile was chosen as another jab at SLS (hopefully a nail in the coffin).

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